A Haven in the Sea of Apes

Han Li picked up a pill between two fingers, brought it to eye level, and examined it with focused concentration. A faint smile appeared on his face.

At least this desperate gamble had not been in vain. With these few Drop Dust Pills, both Qu Hun and his own chances of forming a Core had increased by another fraction.

He carefully packed the pills away and placed the bottle back into his storage pouch.

Now, he needed to find a place with spiritual energy—one that was also safe—and begin Core Formation as soon as possible.

Whether it was Qu Hun or himself, as long as one of them entered the Core Formation stage, they would have a fighting chance against a Core Formation cultivator's pursuit.

But Core Formation was not something that could be accomplished in a few days or weeks.

According to various records and the experiences Li Huayuan had once shared, apart from those rare geniuses with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, all other cultivators required sufficient medicinal support and time to break through the bottleneck.

The two things he had originally intended to buy—Snow Spirit Water and Skyfire Liquid—were precisely the two key spiritual substances a cultivator must take when forming a Core.

It was not that Core Formation was impossible without them. But the success rate would drop to a level that made any cultivator weep.

Although no one had ever conducted an official tally, the rumored success rate was said to be far below one percent.

Besides these two things, a cultivator could also take other auxiliary medicines during Core Formation. The more varieties, the greater the hope of success.

They just did not have as dramatic an effect as Snow Spirit Water and Skyfire Liquid.

Like those two primary substances, repeated doses of the same medicine were ineffective. After all, this was not qi-condensation meditation. With different medicines, the right amount was optimal; too much could actually produce a counterproductive effect.

The irony was that the other auxiliary medicines, though far less effective than Snow Spirit Water and Skyfire Liquid, were actually harder to find and rarer.

Most of them required one or even several thousand-year-old spirit herbs as raw materials to prepare.

What ordinary cultivator could afford such a luxury?

At most, besides Snow Spirit Water and Skyfire Liquid, adding one or two more types would already be an extravagant affair.

For Han Li, however, this was not a major problem.

Except for a few rare spirit herbs he simply did not have or had never even heard of, the rest had already been accelerated to maturity during his years of cultivation at Small Ring Mountain. He had prepared more than a dozen auxiliary Core Formation medicines using them, all stored safely in one of his storage pouches.

The most astonishing thing was that these medicines did not require a cultivator's innate true fire to refine. They could be simply prepared like ordinary mortal medicines.

And the formulas could be clearly found in various common texts.

This had left Han Li puzzled for some time, and he still did not fully understand it.

The five Drop Dust Pills he had obtained were exactly the kind of auxiliary medicine needed by cultivators in the Chaotic Star Sea during Core Formation. That was why they were so rare and valuable.

But that did not mean that taking these auxiliary medicines would immediately give a cultivator a significantly higher success rate than others.

Based on the materials Han Li had consulted, even with a method as extravagant as his, it would at most increase the success rate by one or two-tenths compared to other cultivators.

Still, it was better than taking nothing. Of course, these were only Han Li's own speculations.

Furthermore, the process of Core Formation could not be completed in ten days or half a month.

According to various texts and the Core Formation experience Li Huayuan had once mentioned, the entire process lasted between three and five years.

The exact duration depended on the individual's aptitude.

During this period, the cultivator had to avoid extreme emotional highs and lows, could not engage in combat, and needed to absorb a certain amount of natural spiritual energy.

Therefore, finding an island with at least a trace of spiritual energy to go into seclusion and form a Core was an absolute necessity.

With this thought, Han Li took out a jade slip from his body. It contained a massive sea chart centered on the three great islands, including Nebula Star Island.

Han Li sank his mind into it. After considerable effort, he determined his approximate current location, then searched the entire chart for remote medium or small islands marked with notes.

After the time it takes to eat a meal, Han Li withdrew from the jade slip, deep in thought.

He glanced at the sea around him and the blazing sun above, narrowed his eyes slightly to adjust his direction, then turned into a streak of white light with Qu Hun and disappeared over the horizon.

Along the way, whenever Han Li encountered a deserted island, he would briefly stop to recover his mana. Whenever he spotted an island occupied by cultivators, he would immediately avoid it, not daring to linger for even a moment, fearing he might leave behind traces that could be tracked.

After changing direction several times in this manner, Han Li finally flew at full speed toward his true destination.

Two months later, Han Li and Qu Hun appeared above an extremely remote island.

This island was far smaller than Nebula Star Island, but it was still much larger than an ordinary small island, barely qualifying as a medium-sized one.

This was Han Li's destination after his long journey: Sea Ape Island.

Apart from a small number of mortals, the island was mostly inhabited by low-level cultivators who had not established a Foundation. There was no island lord, making it a completely free zone where anyone could come and go.

The island got its name from a very peculiar low-grade demon beast that spawned in the nearby waters: the Sea Ape.

This demon beast looked exactly like an ordinary monkey. The only difference was that it could use a low-grade spell, Water Arrow, and possessed remarkably high intelligence.

Adults were nearly as smart as a seven or eight-year-old child and could dive into the deep sea to catch fish for food. This made them a favorite target for cultivators seeking to capture them for use as menial servants in their caves.

Although the Sea Ape was classified as a demon beast, a mere fifth or sixth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator could easily defeat and capture one. Therefore, every year, small boats from various regions would dock here, hiring low-level cultivators to capture and sell them.

Some small merchants had even pooled their resources to set up a protective formation on the island and establish long-term storefronts. They bought live Sea Apes at low prices year-round, then shipped them all away in bulk whenever a sea vessel arrived.

As a result, the island naturally attracted low-level cultivators looking to earn spirit stones.

But the reason other rogue cultivators quickly settled here after the formation was established was that Sea Ape Island actually had a barely passable, sprawling spiritual vein.

Although the quality of the spiritual vein was frankly mediocre, its advantage lay in its size and breadth. Practically anywhere on the island, a low-level cultivator could practice cultivation.

The so-called spirit eyes and the few spots with slightly denser spiritual energy were not significantly different from the rest of the island. No high-level cultivator would ever bother fighting over them.

With such thin spiritual energy and only a negligible amount of Sea Ape produce as its special resource, this remote island naturally did not attract the attention of any major power. It was a free and unregulated world for low-level cultivators.

Although a Foundation Establishment or even a Core Formation cultivator might occasionally visit this island, they were usually just passersby.

It was the perfect hiding place for Han Li to form his Core.

Two days later, Han Li stood in a desolate mountain range at one corner of the island, looking at the temporary cave he had just carved out. He was very satisfied with it.

The new cave had no complicated structure—just a simple herb garden and two hidden chambers.

Of course, Han Li had used a set of array tools to set up an ordinary concealment formation that sealed the entrance. He also carefully released the two Blood Jade Spiders from the beast-hide pouch, stationing them to guard the cave's front door.

After years of training, these two white spiders had grown to the size of a human head. They had advanced two ranks, reaching the peak of the first tier. They were more than capable of handling ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators. They were also the only exotic insects Han Li had brought from his cave on Small Ring Island.

As for his other exotic insects and demon beasts, they remained in his true cave on Small Ring Island.

Han Li guessed that if those scheming individuals were still unwilling to give up and wanted to kill him to silence him, or avenge that cultivator surnamed Gu, they would certainly trace him back to his cave on Small Ring Island.

Although the two formations outside his real and decoy caves might hold out for a while, they could not withstand a Core Formation cultivator's relentless assault for very long.

His real cave would undoubtedly be exposed.

As for the decoy cave, Han Li calculated that the chances of discovery versus non-discovery were about fifty-fifty.

Because the tunnel leading to his real cave was not concealed by any easily detectable formation. Instead, he had used a mortal-world mechanical mechanism—a huge stone chair carved from a boulder blocked the entrance.

If the intruders merely searched the peak where the decoy cave was located, Han Li was confident they would not notice anything unusual.

But if the intruder was a meticulous individual who insisted on investigating everything thoroughly, then it was hard to say!

After all, the unique aura of those exotic insects on the other peak could not be hidden from a Core Formation cultivator's powerful spiritual sense.

So, although Han Li was somewhat reluctant to part with those exotic insects he had never managed to tame, he would have to leave it to fate.

Of course, if they were not discovered and went unfed for five or six years, those poisonous insects were tough enough that they probably would not die. There were precedents of them surviving for several years without eating.

With these thoughts drifting through his mind, Han Li and Qu Hun each entered their own chambers.

(Exhausted. Finally finished this chapter. Another sleepless night. Going to sleep now!)

(End of Chapter)